The Magnificat: Understanding The Song Of Mary
Gabriel carried the greatest birth announcement in history to a virgin in a town everyone despised. Mary answered with the most counter-cultural song ever sung.
Why did Mary answer the most staggering news in history with a song? In Luke 1:26–56, the angel Gabriel is sent to a virgin in Nazareth — a town nobody admired — with the greatest birth announcement ever given: the Messiah promised since Genesis 3:15 was about to arrive, and Mary herself would bear Him. In this Christmas exposition from the Gospel of Luke, Dr. Toby Holt walks through the annunciation, Mary's visit to Elizabeth, and the Magnificat, showing why this humble hymn turns the world's values upside down.
Dr. Holt first sets the announcement in its redemptive-historical frame. Gabriel had told Zacharias that John would be great in the sight of the Lord; he tells Mary something infinitely greater — that her child will be the Lord, a King who will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Then, taking up Mary's honest question about how a virgin could conceive, Holt presses into the doctrine beneath the miracle: since all of Adam's children are brought forth in iniquity, fallen humanity could never produce its own Redeemer. The child had to be conceived by the Holy Spirit — the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at creation.
From the song itself, Holt draws a firm but pastoral correction: Mary was not sinless. She speaks of her lowly state and rejoices in God her Savior, which is exactly what a sinner saved by grace says. Her blessedness, like ours, rests on God's free choice rather than human merit. And that is what makes the Magnificat so counter-cultural: in a season that magnifies tinsel, gifts, and self, Mary's soul magnifies the Lord.
Listeners will come away with a richer grasp of why the virgin birth matters, a biblical answer to claims of Mary's sinlessness, and a Christmas song worth singing all year — one that finds every reason for joy in the God who exalts the lowly and keeps every promise He has made.
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Questions This Sermon Answers
The Magnificat is Mary's song of praise recorded in Luke 1:46–55, sung after the angel Gabriel announced that she would bear the Messiah and after her cousin Elizabeth greeted her as the mother of the Lord. It takes its name from the Latin of its opening line — "My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior" (Luke 1:46–47, NKJV). The song praises God's holiness, mercy, and mighty arm; celebrates His pattern of exalting the lowly and humbling the proud; and confesses His covenant faithfulness to Abraham and his seed forever. Dr. Toby Holt calls it the most counter-cultural song ever written, because it magnifies God in a culture that minimizes Him.
Because a fallen race cannot produce its own Redeemer. Scripture teaches that every child of ordinary human descent inherits a sinful nature — David confesses, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5, NKJV). Had Jesus been born of the union of Joseph and Mary, He would have shared that inheritance. Instead, He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin, so that the Holy One born of her is the sinless Son of God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q. 22) summarizes it: Christ took to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary, yet without sin.
No. Scripture nowhere teaches that Mary was free from original sin or personal sin, and Mary never claims it of herself. In her own song she refers to her lowly state and rejoices in "God my Savior" (Luke 1:47, NKJV) — and a Savior is precisely what sinners need. Dr. Holt notes that if Mary had been sinless, her selection would have surprised no one; instead, everyone in the narrative treats her blessing as astonishing grace. Honoring Mary rightly means agreeing with her: she was a humble believer saved by the God she magnified, chosen by His free volition rather than her own merit.
In his Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Calvin treats Mary's words in Luke 1:46–47 as a confession of her own need of grace: by rejoicing in God as her Savior, Mary places herself among the redeemed rather than above them. Calvin held that Mary is rightly honored as blessed among women — uniquely favored to bear the incarnate Son — while he rejected the veneration and invocation of Mary, since her own song directs all praise to God alone. This sermon stands in that same Reformed line: the Magnificat is not about Mary's greatness but about the greatness of the God who regarded her lowly state.
When Mary asked how a virgin could conceive, Gabriel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you" (Luke 1:35, NKJV). Dr. Holt connects this language to Genesis 1:2, where the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters as God created all things. The same Spirit who was God's agent in the first creation would now work a new creation in Mary's womb, so that the child conceived would be called the Son of God. The conception of Christ was therefore a divine, miraculous act — not a natural union — which is why the child born of Mary is holy.
Dr. Holt calls Genesis 3:15 the first birth announcement in history. Immediately after the fall, God promised that a Seed of the woman would come to crush the serpent. Eve appears to have hoped for the promise's fulfillment in her own children, but for centuries God's people waited — through Abraham and the patriarchs, through David, through prophets like Habakkuk pleading for God to act, and through prophecies that grew ever more specific, even naming Bethlehem. Gabriel's announcement in Luke 1 is the climax of that long covenant history: the promised Seed was now to be conceived. The birth of Jesus is not an isolated wonder but the keeping of a promise God made in Eden.
Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out that Mary was blessed among women, and Mary herself sang that all generations would call her blessed. Dr. Holt explains that a blessing is by definition something undeserved. Mary was not chosen because she was greater or holier than others — any more than David or Saul of Tarsus earned their callings — but out of God's free and sovereign grace. That is why the word blessed fits: God regarded the lowly state of His maidservant and did great things for her. Calling Mary blessed is therefore a confession about God's kindness, not a claim about Mary's merit — and there has never been another blessing like it in history.
When Mary greeted Elizabeth, the unborn John leaped in his mother's womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41). Dr. Holt observes that John was God's final and perhaps greatest prophet appointed to point to Jesus — the one who would later point Him out on the riverbank as the Lamb of God. Even in utero, John was doing what he was called to do: recognizing and rejoicing at the nearness of his Savior. Holt draws out an implication: the unborn child's Spirit-wrought joy testifies to the value and sacredness of life in the womb, a life precious to God before birth.
Gabriel told Mary that her Son would be great, would be called the Son of the Highest, and would receive the throne of His father David: "And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:33, NKJV). Dr. Holt contrasts this with Israel's greatest kings — David, Solomon, Josiah — whose reigns all ended when they died. An everlasting kingdom requires an everlasting King, so Gabriel's words pointed Mary to her child's divine origin. The promise fulfills God's covenant with David and assures believers that Christ reigns now and forever.
The Magnificat locates all greatness in God rather than in self, status, power, or wealth. Mary sings of a God who scatters the proud, puts down the mighty from their thrones, exalts the lowly, fills the hungry with good things, and sends the rich away empty — a complete reversal of the world's scoreboard. Dr. Holt contrasts her song with the seasonal songs that magnify the day, the gifts, and the shiny things around us: pleasant, but powerless to magnify God. Mary's soul magnifies the Lord, and that Godward focus made her song startling in first-century Nazareth and makes it startling still. To sing it honestly is to dethrone self and enthrone God.
1. The Birth Announcement Promised from Eden
Dr. Holt opens by asking when the first birth announcement in history occurred — and answers from Genesis 3:15, where God, immediately after the fall, promised a Seed of the woman who would crush the serpent. Eve seems to have hoped the promise would be fulfilled at once, and for centuries God's people waited: through the patriarchs, through David, through prophets like Habakkuk pleading for the Lord to act, and through prophecies that grew ever more specific, even naming Bethlehem as the Messiah's birthplace. In Luke 1 that long covenant history reaches its climax. Gabriel is sent not merely to announce to the nation at large that the Messiah is near, but to tell the very woman who will bear Him. Holt presses the wonder of this for a people suffering under Herod and Rome: the promise made in Eden was about to be kept in Nazareth. God's covenant faithfulness spans the whole of redemptive history, and the manger is its proof.
2. Why the Redeemer Had to Be Born of a Virgin
Mary's question — how can a virgin conceive? — leads Dr. Holt to the sermon's theological center. Every child born of ordinary descent inherits a fallen nature; David confesses, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5, NKJV). Naturally fallen people have naturally fallen children, and Paul builds on this in Romans: we are sinners not merely by choice but by nature, born of the first Adam and needing the second. A race that is fallen in Adam cannot produce its own Redeemer. So the child had to be conceived by divine, not natural, means: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you" (Luke 1:35, NKJV). Holt links this overshadowing to Genesis 1:2, where the Spirit of God hovered over the waters at creation — the incarnation is the Spirit's new-creation work, exactly as the Westminster Confession (chapter 8) confesses of Christ's conception in the womb of the virgin Mary.
3. Blessed by Grace, Not by Merit
Some traditions place Mary on a pedestal above the rest of humanity, teaching that she was preserved from all sin. Dr. Holt answers bluntly that Scripture says no such thing. Mary speaks of her own lowly state, and she rejoices in "God my Savior" (Luke 1:47, NKJV) — and people need a Savior for their sins. Her own song is prima facie evidence that she stood inside the fallen race, not above it. Why then does everyone in the narrative call her blessed? Because a blessing, Holt argues, is precisely what is not earned. Mary was chosen the way David was chosen and the way Saul of Tarsus was chosen — by God's free and sovereign volition, not because of anything in her. Holt widens this into the doctrine of electing grace: God did not set His love on any of His people because they were lovable. Sovereign grace is what makes the word blessed the right word, for Mary and for every believer.
4. A Song That Magnifies God in a Culture That Minimizes Him
The Magnificat takes its name from its opening line: "My soul magnifies the Lord" (Luke 1:46, NKJV). Dr. Holt observes that the song's focus is relentlessly Godward — His holiness, His mercy, His mighty arm, His faithfulness to Abraham and his seed forever. It celebrates the great reversal that runs through Luke's Gospel: God has scattered the proud, put down the mighty from their thrones, exalted the lowly, filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. This, Holt argues, is what makes it the most counter-cultural song ever written. The world's songs — including the ones that fill the airwaves every December — magnify the day, the gifts, and the shiny things around us. Mary's song magnifies God in a culture that minimized Him then and minimizes Him still, and it summons worshipers to locate all greatness in the Lord rather than in status, power, or wealth.
5. The Manger Points to a Savior
Dr. Holt closes where the sermon has been heading all along: Christmas saves no one as a mere event. What saves is not acknowledging that a child, or even a great teacher, was born two thousand years ago in Bethlehem, but that God Himself came down from His throne, took on flesh in the lowliest of places, lived the perfect life, and died for sinners. Apart from intervening grace, the wages of sin is death, and no one is righteous. But God, out of His own love and mercy, has embodied that mercy in the manger. So the sermon ends with a call to faith — not in Christ as king, teacher, or leader only, but in His saving person and work. Mary knew it, which is why she called Him her Savior and sang; those who would celebrate Christmas rightly are invited to join their voices with hers.
About The Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt serves as the third President of New Geneva Theological Seminary (Colorado Springs, CO), founded 1993. An expository preacher with over 1.9 million sermon downloads on SermonAudio.com, Dr. Holt brings over 17 years of pastoral experience to his verse-by-verse Bible teaching. New Geneva offers fully online, Westminster Confessional theological education — M.Div., Th.M., D.Min., and other degrees.
Summary. Dr. Toby Holt teaches through Luke 1:26–56, tracing Christ's birth announcement from the first promise of Genesis 3:15 to Gabriel's visit to a virgin in Nazareth. He explains why the Redeemer had to be conceived by the Holy Spirit rather than by ordinary descent, grounding the virgin birth in the doctrine of original sin. From Mary's own words — she calls God her Savior and speaks of her lowly state — he shows that she was a sinner saved by grace, not the sinless figure some traditions have made her. The sermon closes with the Magnificat itself, the most counter-cultural song ever written: a hymn that magnifies the Lord in a culture that minimizes Him, calling every listener to faith in the Savior whose kingdom will have no end.
The Magnificat: Mary's Song of Praise
In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel was sent to a young Jewish woman named Mary in order to tell her two things. The first was that the long-awaited Messiah was near. In fact, his arrival was imminent. And the second was that she, Mary, would give birth to him. She would be his mother. So what was Mary's response to this startling news? How did she react? That will be the focus of today's study.
Over the past number of years, my family and I have received a number of birth announcements. Now, some of them come from friends and family, neighbors and the like, and a lot of them come from folks in our church circles. Now, you all know what a birth announcement is, but do you know when the first birth announcement occurred? Well, if you're thinking all the way back to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 3, then you get a gold star. The first birth announcement occurred in the book of Genesis. In Genesis chapter three, right after the fall, right after God evicted Adam and Eve from the garden, he declares that she will have children. And specifically, he declares that there will be a child. There will be a child, maybe somewhere far down the line, a seed, capital S.
The seed would come from her progeny, who would be great, who would be like no other child ever born. A seed would come who we sometimes refer to as the Messiah. So this is the first birth announcement you'll ever see anywhere in Genesis 3, verse 15. With that said, the birth announcement was a little more vague than some of the ones we see in modern culture. It was a little more vague in this way.
The details weren't all there. Specifically, when would this child come? You see, Eve might have expected it would come right away. In fact, when she first had a child, she says, behold, a son. She had some hope or expectation that this seed, that this one who would come to crush the serpent beneath his foot, that he would come imminently, immediately. And for centuries thereafter, that was the great desire of God's people.
As they blossomed through the seed of Abraham and the patriarchs, on through David and beyond, there was this desire that this one, the seed, this child, this one whose birth was proclaimed so long ago that he would show up in our age because, dear God, we need him. People like Habakkuk would look up to God and say, how long, O Lord? The desire was that this one would come, that he would smite the enemies, that he'd deal with the Babylonians, that he'd deal with the Assyrians, that he'd deal with the Romans, that he'd usher in the days of milk and honey, that the one would come to smite the serpent, to deal with sin and death, and bring healing to the land.
And for centuries the people waited, for he hadn't arrived. For centuries the people waited.
Continue reading the full transcript 32-minute read · 8 sections · every section links back to the audio
Mary's News and Humble Faith
Now, other prophecies came about beyond what we see in Genesis 3. Other prophecies came about that continued to anticipate, predict His arrival, His coming. And some of those prophecies got increasingly specific about who He would be, what He would do, even where He would be born in the city of Bethlehem, as we'll see tonight. In tonight's text, we're going to look at Micah 5, one of the coolest prophecies you'll ever see in Scripture, anticipated exactly where, the most unlikely place, exactly where this Messiah would come from.
With that said, there had been prophecies and expectation all the way up to the opening pages of the New Testament. For thousands of years. But in today's text, in Luke chapter 1, we see that the final, greatest, most eminent birth announcement was now given, not just to the people at large, but to the very mother who would bear the child. In today's text, the angel Gabriel, as we said before, this is the most impressive angel God has.
As God looks at the pantheon of angels around him, as he looks at all the different angels, as he looks at Bob the angel and Stu the angel and so forth, he says, no, Gabriel, the greatest angel I have, you're going to go to the most meek individual with this news. So Gabriel in today's text shows up and tells Mary that, Mary, what you've desired, what the whole people have desired going back centuries is going to happen, is going to happen in the near term, and it's going to be realized in the form of a tiny baby that you are going to bear.
Now, there's two components to that that stand out. Before we dive into the text, there's two components that stand out. The first one is that even if the angel had not told Mary that she would be the one bearing it, He was still giving her news that would have just blown her mind, that the Messiah would show up in her generation. Again, everyone in her generation desired this because everyone in her generation was suffering.
The Jews of this age were under the foot of Rome. It was a terrible time for Israel. They had a wicked vassal king named Herod. They had Caesar hundreds of miles away. They had legions of Roman soldiers marching down their streets. This was a terrible time to be a Jew. And so for the news to come that the Messiah, the long-promised one, the Savior, would show to Mary, that alone would have been just mind-blowing, great, wonderful, awesome news.
But that's not all he told her. Beyond that, he told her this, that this one, that this king, would be born to her. And the angel gave some of the characteristics of this king to Mary. He said in today's text, he said, he will be great. He'll be called the son of the highest and Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom, there will be no end. Behold, Mary, you will conceive and you will bear this king. Now, outside of the shock of that, what was Mary's response? Well, that's what we're going to see in this text. Let me look again at verses 26 through 28 and we'll just work our way through the selection. Verse 26. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. Now, side note, everyone hated Nazareth. Nazareth was a dump. No one liked Nazareth. This was the least likely place for such a one to come. So in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David now the virgin's name was Mary and having come in the angel said to her rejoice highly favored one for the Lord is with you blessed are you among all women all right let's set the scene a little bit here for all that's going to occur on this first christmas day verse 26 we read that gabriel was sent in the sixth month. The sixth month of what? If you just come to that text fresh, what is he talking about? The sixth month of who? What went on? What is he referring to? Well, earlier in Luke chapter 1, there had been a separate angelic visit, a separate angel siding. In the first part of Luke 1,
Luke 1 in Its Redemptive Context
the angel Gabriel had come to a man named Zacharias. To a man named Zacharias who had a wife named Elizabeth. They were both old and she was barren. And the angel came to Zacharias in order to tell Zacharias that they would have a child. Now, what was his name to be? John. John the Baptist. I don't know if they called him that out of the womb. Look, here's my son, John the baptist. But, but John, absolutely. And the angel said, that's what you're going to name. You're going to name the kid John. So the angel comes and he tells Zacharias that you are going to have a Son. And Zacharias, you know, the shock. He's old. Elizabeth is old. This is unlike that happened.
She's been barren. And the angel says that you're going to have this child. So that's what you see the first part of Luke chapter 1, this angel siding with a birth announcement. When we come to verse 26, the same cycle is repeated. There's an angel siding and a birth announcement. And this angel comes to Mary and says, rejoice, highly favored one. Now, what did he mean by that? Well, let's see how he elaborates as we look at verses 29 through 33. Now, when Mary saw him, she was troubled at his saying. I'm sure she was. And she considered what manner of greeting this was.
Then the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, you will bring forth a son, and his name shall be called Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end all right when the angel had first showed up to Zacharias earlier in Luke 1 he had told Zacharias that he and his wife would have a very important child not just any ordinary child but a very important child specifically the angel had said that this child that John would be great in the sight of the Lord so the angel says the child you have is going be very important. He's going to be great in the sight of the Lord. Now, if you're Zacharias, that's pretty cool. Imagine if you're going to have a kid, and an angel comes and tells you, your kid is going to be wonderful and awesome. He's going to grow up to be great in the sight of the Lord. Wouldn't you, as a parent, you'd be like, yes, yes, this is good news. Well, of course, that's wonderful news, but what he tells Mary is far more impressive than that.
He told Zacharias, your son's going to be great in the sight of the Lord, but he tells Mary, your child will be the Lord. You see, this is infinitely, infinitely greater news, but also far more shocking, shocking news for Mary to hear. Now, over the years, children have been more. Over the years, there have been a lot of kings. In Israel's own history, they'd had some impressive kings. Kings like David or Solomon might come to mind. However, David and Solomon and Joash and josiah and all these other guys, they had one thing in common. They were gone. All these guys were dead. And you know what happened to their reign and their rule when they died? It ended with them. With that said, not only did the angel tell Mary, you're going to have a child. It's going to be a great child. This child is going to be a king, a king of kings. But he said that of His kingdom, there will be no end. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. What this told Mary is that this child, whatever her understanding, whatever her theology was, it told her that this child was going to be of divine origins. He'll reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom there will be no end. So we see in this text, this is not going to be an ordinary king. No matter what she took away from it, she knew this. This is not going to be an ordinary king. However, she was probably focusing on something slightly different. She wasn't probably thinking as much about what an unordinary king would be. She was thinking about what an unordinary birth this would be. Now why?
Well, how does the text introduce her?
The Lord Exalts the Lowly
What characteristic does the text tell us first about Mary? It says she's a virgin. At this point, she's not even married. She's betrothed, but she has not known a man at this point. And so Mary's sitting there listening to this and going, well, I mean, this all sounds well and good, but do you have the right Mary? There's a lot of Marys. Maybe you want the Mary down the street. So she tries to remind.
In the next verses, she's going to try to remind the angel of exactly who she is and how this can't be possible given her circumstances. So let's look at verses 34 through 38. Verse 34, then Mary said to the angel, how? How can this be, since I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you.
Therefore also that holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now, indeed, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age. This is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God, nothing, nothing will be impossible. Then Mary said, behold, the maidservant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. All right, in verse 34, Mary asks a perfectly reasonable question.
How can a virgin have a child? We don't know what she knew about biology and anatomy and the like. We have no idea her understanding of these things. And yet, it's a reasonable question for people to ask in any culture. How can a virgin have a child? Now, before we consider the angel's answer, let me ask you a thinking question. Why did the Messiah need to be born of a virgin to begin with?
He was, but why? Why was that an essential part of this narrative? Why did prophecies anticipate that that event had to happen? The virgin will be with child. Why? Think about that as we look forward here. Consider the alternative if she wasn't a virgin. For thousands of years, children had been born. And there was a common denominator behind every last one of them. They're all sinful. They're all born with a sinful nature.
In Psalm 51, King David said as much. In Psalm 51, King David, who was no slouch in the holiness department. King David, after God's own heart. In Psalm 51, King David said, this is the way it works. We're all born in this estate. He said this, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and sin. My mother conceived me. Not simply that she was a sinner, but that sin itself affected and formed the action, the birth, every part of it.
I came into this world born in iniquity. This is what we call the doctrine of Original Sin or total depravity or what have you. We can talk about that at another venture. Now, the doctrine of Original Sin, presuming it's true, which it is, the doctrine of Original Sin suggests that if Mary and Joseph, if Mary and Joseph had attempted to have a child on their own, then he would be, guess what?
A sinner. Born that way. Born into sin. He would suffer from the same transmission of sin that his parents and grandparents and all the way back to Adam and Eve's first children had. In other words, if Mary and Joseph had a child, that child would be affected and formed by sin the same way you and I are. Naturally fallen people have naturally fallen children. I hope that's not a shock to you.
Naturally fallen people have naturally fallen children. It's a vicious circle that humanity can't escape from. Paul lingers on this in the book of Romans. He says this is one of our problems. Of the many problems we have, this is one of them, that we're not sinners merely by choice, although we do choose to sin, but we're sinners by nature. We're born of the first Adam. Boo! We need to be born of the second Adam. This is the systematic he gives us in the book of Romans.
The Proud Scattered and the Hungry Filled
So it's a vicious circle. We're born this way. However, what if, what if a child was to be born of divine and not natural means? What if it wasn't the union of Mary and Joseph, if, but what if, what if the Holy Spirit overshadowed her? Would this child, if it was conceived of God in that sense, be tainted by sin? And the short answer is no. And that's essential. If the human race was ever going to be redeemed, it was not capable of producing its own Redeemer.
Look at your own kids. Look at yourself. If the human race was ever to be redeemed, it was not capable of producing its own Redeemer, which is why Jesus could not be born of the union of a man and a woman, but rather of the Spirit, which is exactly what the angel says is going to happen. Verse 35, verse 35, the angel answers Mary's question, says, no, Mary, you got it all wrong.
It's not going to be you and Joseph or you and anyone else. This is what will happen. Verse 35, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore also, the Holy One that's be born of you will be called the Son of God, because they'll be conceived of God, by God, through the Holy Spirit. Now, when you think of the idea of the Holy Spirit overshadowing and the like, does that speak to any other passages in Scripture, anything else in Scripture? Is there a book in the Bible where we read about the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit accomplishing anything important? I think I heard Genesis. In the book of Genesis, that's how creation began. That's the way everything you see in the world around you started, by the work of the Holy Spirit overshadowing that which was to be made. The very first verses, literally the first two verses in the whole Bible declare this. Genesis 1, 1 and 2. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. How? The earth was without form and void. Darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, was God's instrument in creating everything we see around us. He would also be the instrument by overshadowing that which was to be created in Mary, or born of Mary, conceived of Mary, which is Christ himself. The Holy Spirit was God's agent, the creation of all things, and that through the Holy Spirit, Mary would bear a child even though she was a virgin. Now, let's say that you don't have 2,000 years of theology at your disposal. Mary couldn't look up what Turretin said, couldn't look up what C. S. Lewis had said, couldn't look up any of that stuff. She just had to process this kind of on the fly here. So she comes to this idea, Cole, that the Holy Spirit is going to what now? How is this going to work? To her, again, this seemed impossible. Even though the angel had explained it, it still seemed far-fetched. I've never known a man. It would have to be a miracle. And the angel says, yep, that's exactly right. And he says, Mary, I'm paraphrasing here, but he says, Mary, you want to talk miracles. You know your cousin up the road a bit, her cousin Elizabeth. Now, she's pretty old, right? Well, she who was thought to be absolutely barren, beyond the ability to have children, is now in her sixth month. What do you make of that, oh Mary? Specifically, he says this in verses 36-37. The angel tells Mary, he says, now indeed, elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is now the sixth month, the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God, for with God, nothing will be impossible. Elizabeth had no business being pregnant. That's why Zacharias was so shocked.
For all her life, she hadn't been pregnant. In her season of possible pregnancy, the doors seemed shut. But now a miracle had taken place. Elizabeth was now six months along. Although her pregnancy was improbable, the angel says, it's not impossible. And if it was not impossible for her, Elizabeth, Mary, if it is impossible for her, then why would you doubt? With God, nothing's impossible. With God, nothing is impossible, the angel declares there in verse 37. For what it's worth, just as an aside, there may be things in your life where you're looking at a situation, a hardship, you're looking at 2024, you don't know what's around the corner, and you think that the pages are already written for 2024 based on your own presuppositions and expectations?
Well, newsflash, God can and does do miraculous things that we don't expect all the time, and there may be something in your life right around the corner that will redress some of the hardships that you're facing now. On the flip side, there may be additional hardships in the years to come. Whatever the case, God tells us this much is with us as we face them, and that nothing, no matter how difficult the hardship might be, no matter how narrow the path might look, no matter how finite the result might seem to us, nothing is impossible. Think about that when you make your New Year's resolutions here in the week to come. So Mary's just been told this. The angels answered the question. Remember Elizabeth and the miracles happened. Nothing's impossible. What does she do at this point? Are there additional objections? Does she have this list of things go, all right, well, how about this, this, and this? Well, no, to her infinite credit here, she doesn't do that. There's no sense of additional hemming and hawing and wondering
Why Mary's Song Is Counter-Cultural
what's going on. There's also no sense that she ran from the room as, you know, others had run, God say, do blank, and they say no, and they were gone. Think Jonah. There was others like Gideon, who God say, you're the one chosen for this, and Gideon, you know, there's got to be someone else. She didn't do that either. She doesn't suggest that God is the wrong person. Instead, Mary said, yes behold your maidservant let it be to me as as thou hast said all right let's look at verses 39 through 45 then Mary rose in those days and went in the hill country with haste to a city of judah and entered the house of zechariah and greeted elizabeth and it happened when elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb and elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit then she spoke out loud with a loud voice saying blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. But why is this granted to me, that the mother of the Lord should come to me?
For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told to her from the Lord. All right, in these verses, verse 39 through 45, Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and the minute that they show up, the minute that they arrive, the minute elizabeth hears Mary's voice in verse 41, the child that's within her, little John the Baptist, jumps with excitement. There's a wealth of theology just in that. But this child jumps with excitement in the womb. What's cool about that is, picture this, John the Baptist was God's last and perhaps greatest instrument intended to point to Jesus. All the prophets have been pointing to Jesus for years. John the Baptist was perhaps the last and the greatest of those who would point to Jesus. And not only did he get a point to Jesus through his words, but with his finger, behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world, He would say as he saw Jesus on the riverbank.
Well, even here in the womb, what happens? John the Baptist was wired, predisposed, called to do this, to point to Jesus. And even as an infant in the womb, that's exactly what he does. The mere proximity causes this child to recognize and jump and leap for joy, is what we see in this text. Doing so in utero, which seems amazing to us. It should also tell you something about the value and sacredness of life in utero.
Tell us something fascinating about the child within the womb, that this child was apparently dwelt with the Spirit in such a way as to recognize his Savior just by mere proximity. I don't know how that works, but it tells me this much. Life is indeed precious, even in that dark environment prior to birth. Not to be extinguished, not to be exterminated. All right. That said, Elizabeth then says the same thing. As the child is jumping, as all this is going on, elizabeth says the same thing to Mary. Blessed are you, Mary, Mary, blessed are you among all women. Now, why does everyone keep using the word blessed to describe Mary? Well, a blessing is something you don't necessarily earn or deserve. It wasn't that Mary was so great any more than David was great or Saul of Tarsus was great when God chose them. It was not because Mary was great that she was chosen. It was out of God's volition. And because it was all grace, everyone keeps saying that she's blessed. And indeed, there's never been a blessing like it in all recorded history. All right, so how was Mary's final response at this point in our text? Let's look to wrap up this section this morning. What is her response at this point, after she's received the news, after all this has gone on, after she's encountered Elizabeth, after she's had some time to process things, what now does she have to say? Well, she doesn't say anything, but she sings it.
Pastoral Application
And I'm not going to try to emulate her, but we are going to look at this song. Verses 46 through 56, let's see the song, the Magnificat of Mary. Verse 46, Mary said this, those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and he has exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. And then Mary remained with her, with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned to her house. You know, there are some faith traditions that look back to Mary and say that Mary was sinless. In other words, there are some faith traditions that take Mary and place her on this pedestal above the whole lot of humanity itself with the idea that she had never sinned and never would sin, that she was free not only from original sin, as we talked about a little bit earlier, she was free from that, but there are some would believe she was free from any personal sin all of her days.
Now, it's not a Jewish word, but I'll say this. Balderdash. That's not the way this works. If Mary had been sinless her entire life, it probably wouldn't have been a shock to her or Elizabeth or anyone else that she would have received such a blessing. It probably would not have been a shock to her or Elizabeth or Zacharias or anyone else if she had been sinless all her days, that she of all people would be the one that would receive this blessing.
When she passed by, people would look at her and go, whoa, there's something about Mary. There's something about this one. They would expect great things. Mary, this virtuous woman who's never done anything wrong, never told a lie, never did any of this stuff. There's something about that Mary. And none of them would have been shocked that she would be the one chosen with such a responsibility. But that's not what anyone said of her. That's not what anyone said anywhere in Scripture about her. There's no one in the entirety of the Bible who said that Mary was sinless. And for that matter, it's not something that Mary ever said of herself either. It's not how Mary saw herself. At verse 48, which we just looked at, Mary refers to her lowly estate.
She doesn't put herself on a pedestal. She puts herself down here. Mary says, you've looked on me in my lowly estate. Furthermore, verse 47, she refers to God with what word? What does she say about God? He is her what? Savior. Now help me out here. What do people need to be saved from? Sins. Now, is it possible that she had been saved from other things or hardship, poverty, heartache or whatnot over the years? Is it possible that God is her savior and has redeemed her from various hardships in life? Yes. Amen and amen. And yet the context of this statement of the song and everything you see in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 and 2 and the like, the context here is not just salvation from hardship, but salvation from one's sins. So Mary says, my Spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior, and that would seem to be prima facie evidence that she was, guess what, a sinner who needed to be saved from her sins, from the same wrath that otherwise would befall all of us.
With that said, the focus of this song is not on her. The focus of Mary's song is not on her high estate, low estate, any estate. The focus here is on God. It's called the Magnificat. Why? Because it magnifies not Mary, but God Himself. My soul magnifies the Lord, is what she says in the opening verse. My soul magnifies God for who He is, for what He has done, for fulfilling the promises.
For everything about His nature and His attributes. From one end to the other, you see verse after verse talks about His holiness and His mercy and His majesty and His kindness and His forbearance.
Christ, Grace, and the Closing Exhortation
And His looking down on the impoverished and the hurting and raising them up. This song is about how awesome God is. It magnifies God in a culture that minimizes him. That's why it stands out. In this song, she magnifies God. This is the most countercultural song ever written for that reason. All the Christmas songs, I mean, I listen to them too. You turn on Sirius on the Christmas channel and it's frosty and it's, you know, jingle bells and all that sort of stuff.
I like those songs too, but they don't magnify God. They magnify the day and the tinsel and the lights and the gifts and the snow and all this stuff. All the shiny, all the shiny things in the world around us is generally speaking where our attention goes to at this time of year, but not Mary. She said, my soul magnifies the Lord. And she lingered on his attributes and his characteristics. And again, this is a startling and a culture that minimizes them even in that day.
All right, with our remaining few moments this morning, let me close with this. At Christmas, we tend to focus on the event, and then, of course, we dress up the event. But we tend to focus on the event, the occasion of Christ's birth and the circumstances of kind of what went down. And that's okay. I mean, it's appropriate for us to do that. But it's as important, perhaps more important, that we focus not simply on the event, but on who this child is. You see, you and I aren't saved just because a child was born 2,000 years ago in a manger in Bethlehem. It doesn't save anybody. What saves us is not the recognition that a child was born. What saves us is not the acknowledgement that a great leader or teacher or rabbi or what have you was born. What saves us is that God himself came down from his throne to be born in a manger, to live the perfect life, to ultimately die for us, and that through faith in him, not just as a king or a teacher or as a leader, but as a savior, by faith in his saving person and work, we have eternal hope. In the manger, God took on the form of the lowliest. He didn't do it because we're so darn lovable that he couldn't resist himself. Dear heavens, God didn't choose you because he couldn't help himself. He didn't elect you. He didn't love you. He didn't call you to himself because he looked down at the whole globe and said, oh, that guy. I just, he's so lovable. It's not like his pound puppies where there's one who sticks out and God says, that one, that's not the way that this is. We're all equally unlovable. All we like sheep have gone astray.
Everyone has turned to his own way. There are none who are righteous, no, not one. Now, why is that lack of righteousness important? Why does it matter that you're a sinner? Do you acknowledge you're a sinner? I won't ask you to raise your hand, but do you acknowledge that you're a sinner? If you are, then what's your hope? If you broke the laws of one greater than you, and the one greater than you says even breaking the law once is sufficient to throw the whole created realm into chaos, which is what happened in the book of Genesis, and you've sinned more than once, you've sinned more times than you can count, if you acknowledge that you're a sinner who has broken the laws of a holy God, what do you expect him to do about it?
Well, I'll tell you. Apart from any intervening grace, you can expect this to be judged. The wages of sin is death. Not time out, not being put in a corner in heaven. Death. The wages of sin is death. The holy God looks upon you and assuming there's nothing between you and him on the day you stand before him, as another preacher put it, you will melt before him like a wax figurine before a blast furnace, apart from anything in between. But the good news of the Gospel is this, that although we are sinners and although that's our condition, although outside of his intervening grace, that would be our future, God has looked down upon us while we were not lovable, and he's determined out of his love to grant his love and his mercy to us. And you've never seen that mercy embodied in any way like it was in the manger on that first Christmas day.
So what do you need to do this day? Faith. You're called to faith. You're called to believe. Tomorrow morning, if you want to celebrate Christmas correctly, then know this. The child in the manger, he's no mere child. He was God in the flesh in the city of David. It wasn't just a rabbi, a teacher, or a leader that was born. It was something that we needed far more, a savior. Mary knew it, which is why she identified Him as such.
Mary knew it. She knew it. She sang about it. Tomorrow we would do well to join our voice with hers, singing this. My soul magnifies the Lord, and my Spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. Let's pray.
More in The Gospel Of Luke
Continue the verse-by-verse series.
